Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to authorise.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | autorise | I authorise | |
| tu | autorises | you authorise | |
| il / elle / on | autorise | he / she / it authoriseson: we authorise / one authorises | |
| nous | autorisons | we authorise | |
| vous | autorisez | you authorise | |
| ils / elles | autorisent | they authorise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le directeur autorise l'accès à la salle.
The director authorises access to the room.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai autorisé | I authorised | |
| tu | as autorisé | you authorised | |
| il / elle / on | a autorisé | he / she / it authorisedon: we authorised / one authorised | |
| nous | avons autorisé | we authorised | |
| vous | avez autorisé | you authorised | |
| ils / elles | ont autorisé | they authorised |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le directeur a autorisé l'accès à la salle.
Yesterday, the director authorised access to the room.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | autorisais | I used to authorise | |
| tu | autorisais | you used to authorise | |
| il / elle / on | autorisait | he / she / it used to authoriseon: we used to authorise / one used to authorise | |
| nous | autorisions | we used to authorise | |
| vous | autorisiez | you used to authorise | |
| ils / elles | autorisaient | they used to authorise |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le directeur autorisait l'accès à la salle.
Back then, the director used to authorise access to the room.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | autoriserai | I will authorise | |
| tu | autoriseras | you will authorise | |
| il / elle / on | autorisera | he / she / it will authoriseon: we will authorise / one will authorise | |
| nous | autoriserons | we will authorise | |
| vous | autoriserez | you will authorise | |
| ils / elles | autoriseront | they will authorise |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le directeur autorisera l'accès à la salle.
Later, the director will authorise access to the room.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | autoriserais | I would authorise | |
| tu | autoriserais | you would authorise | |
| il / elle / on | autoriserait | he / she / it would authoriseon: we would authorise / one would authorise | |
| nous | autoriserions | we would authorise | |
| vous | autoriseriez | you would authorise | |
| ils / elles | autoriseraient | they would authorise |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le directeur autoriserait l'accès à la salle.
The director would authorise access to the room.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | autorise | (that) I authorise | |
| tu | autorises | (that) you authorise | |
| il / elle / on | autorise | (that) he / she / it authoriseson: (that) we authorise / one authorises | |
| nous | autorisions | (that) we authorise | |
| vous | autorisiez | (that) you authorise | |
| ils / elles | autorisent | (that) they authorise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le directeur autorise l'accès à la salle.
It is possible that the director authorises access to the room.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to authorise
- to allow
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations